156 Tmm MMSKicffiH mmm j©uREfMi*. 



■^*-^*-*-*-^*-^*-*-*^*^*^»^*' 



heavier at the center than at the rim, 

 to make it run steady. With this thin 

 saw there is so little waste of the wood 

 in the edges of the slats, that if the 

 slats at the sides are let into a rabhet 

 in the side pieces of the frame and 

 nailed, there is no need of a tin strip 

 across the center to stiffen the slats. 

 The frame is a full J inch tliick. 



2. Three-eighths of an inch. 



3. Yes ; and I prefer to have the 

 extracting super made exactly the 

 same as the brood-chamber, so that 

 they may be used for the one purpose 

 or the other, as ma}' be desired. The 

 bee-space is preferred at the top of the 

 frames, and the entrance of the hive 

 should be made in the bottom-board. 



4. Yes ; but if the brood-chamber 

 and extracting super are made alike, 

 and the frames are all the same size, 

 it is preferable to storify the supers so 

 that all tlie frames will be parallel. 



Creatiiiir a Honey 9Iarket. — J. 



W. Collins, Clarksville, Mo., on Feb. 

 22, 1889, says : 



I now have 58 colonies, 40 of my 

 own and 18 on shares. I want to try 

 and create a honey market at home. 

 My bees are wintering well on the 

 summer stands. They had a flight 

 yesterday, but are housed to-day, as it 

 is cold. 



Bees are Very Quiet. —Joseph 

 Beath, Corning, Iowa, on Feb. 20, says : 



On March 15, 1888, I took out my 

 bees and gave them a flight, having 40 

 colonies. I then put them back into 

 the cellar again until April 13, and 

 found 4 dead, 3 of which were killed 

 by mice, and 2 died afterward, leav- 

 ing mc 34 colonies, from which I got 

 1,730 pounds of extracted honey. I 

 put 34 colonies into the cellar on Dec. 

 10, 1888, and they have been very still 

 so far. 



^Vliite Clover all Right Mr. 



Christian Schrier, Peotone, Ills., on 

 Feb. 23, 1889, writes : 



The ground has been so dry all win- 

 ter that the clover has not heaved out 

 yet, but next month can do it. My 

 bees looked well last spring, and I 

 hoped for a big yield of honey, but the 

 white clover failed. I have three acres 

 of alfalfa clover, and I never saw my 

 bees on it. The bees worked on the 

 Alsike clover well, l)utthe Alsike being 

 mixed with the timothy, I cut it for 

 hay while in Ijloom. I made my in- 

 crease by dividing, and bought the 

 queens. By Aug. 1, the hives were 

 full of bees, but no honey. I had five 



acres of buckwheat, and when it he- 

 gan to bloom, the hungry bees worked 

 on it in the morning while wet with 

 dew, and in the evening ; so they soon 

 filled their hives with honej', and had 

 some surplus, which I sold at 18 cents 

 a pound, keeping enough for family 

 use. The bees are in the cellar, and 

 are doing well, there being very few 

 dead ones. I raised each hive an inch 

 from its bottom-board. 



Wintering in CIiafl'-Hives I. 



C. Horton, Muskegon, Mich., on Feb. 

 23, 1889, says : 



I have 77 colonies of bees on the 

 summer stands, in the Hilton Improved 

 chaff-hives. They are in splendid 

 condition. 



Bait for Bees. — Mr. Jos. Dowell, 

 Hicksville, O., on Feb. 25, 1889, says : 



I would say in regai'd to Mr. 

 Becker's question on page 108, that if 

 he will put one or two drops of the oil 

 of sweet anise in his bee-bait, when he 

 goes to Lake Huron, I think that the 

 bees will come back again. 



Oood Fall Honey-Flow H. S. 



Bowman, Maquoketa, Iowa, on Feb. 



26, 1889, says : 



Last season was hard on bees, and 

 bee-keepers in this locality, especially 

 in the spring, and what has always 

 been our harvest ; but the fall flowers 

 came to the rescue, and sent the bees 

 into the cellar well supplied with the 

 nicest f;^ honey I ever saw. 



Gathering Honey. — Wm.Richter, 

 San Bernardino, Calif., on Feb. 16, 



1889, says : 



After having had very dry weather 

 with plenty of wind and sand storms, 

 rain set in to-day, so our prospects for 

 a honey crop are good. Bees gathered 

 a little honey from white thornbush 

 and alfillaree. Dark sage will be in 

 blossom in about three weeks. 



Suh-Earlli Ventilation, etc 



N. N. Betsinger, Marcellus, N. Y., on 

 Feb. 19, 1889, writes : 



If I am not mistaken, two years -ago 

 Mr. P. H. Elwood said at the New 

 York convention that his cellar venti- 

 lators to admit cold air were entirely 

 closed during the cold weather. If 

 this is so, I would like to know of what 

 use (aside from drainage) that im- 

 mense sewer pipe is. On page 99 he 



seems to have changed his views. How 

 can he harmonize this with the de- 

 nunciation given two years ago on 

 "scientific ventilation?" He then 

 stated that 50 colonies of bees, in re- 

 positories, did not i-equire any more 

 air than one person ! 



Dr. Mason is to be congi'atulated on 

 his article on basswood honej- on page 

 103. In order to better inform our 

 Canadian cousins, let me say that we 

 have one supply dealer in New York 

 State who cuts enough sections every 

 season to hold more than all the honey 

 produced in the Dominion of Canada. 

 That supply dealer is only one of the 

 many, but he is the largest in our 

 State. 



Bees Wintering NieeJy A. F. 



Wheeler, Rossville, Iowa, on Feb. 21, 

 1889, writes : 



I commenced the season of 1888 with 

 13 colonies, increased them to 31, by 

 natural swarming, and 7 or 8 swarms 

 went to the woods. I took 1,000 lbs. 

 of surplus honey in one-pound sections, 

 about half of which was white clover, 

 the balance being light amber. I lost 

 2 colonies by the worms, or by my 

 neglect of them in the harvest. I put 

 29 colonies into winter quarters, 25 

 packed in chaff, and 4 in the cellar. 

 They seem to be wintering nicely, the 

 thermometer registering from 41° to 

 45° in the cellar. The coldest that it 

 has been out-of-doors is VZ^ below 

 zero. Ten cents per pound in trade is 

 all that I can get for honey at the 

 grocery store, and I wont take it ; 12i 

 cents is the least that I have sold any 

 for. 



Oood Results in 1S§§ John N. 



Eubank, Slater, Mo., on Feb. 23, 1889, 



writes : 



I commenced the season of 1888 

 with 22 colonies, ■which I increased to 

 35, by natural swarming. I obtained 

 about 1,900 pounds of honey, prin- 

 cipally white clover, and about 400 

 pounds fr(jm red clover. Mj- bees 

 worked on red clover more the past 

 season than they ever did before ; but 

 I do not like the honey, as it is dark, 

 and stronger than fall honey. Con- 

 sidering the season, I think that mj'' 

 bees did well. Bees have wintered 

 well in this localitj- so far. To-day 

 was the coldest of the season — 7° be- 

 low zero. Mj- bees are wintering on 

 the summer stands, have had good 

 flights every few days this winter, and 

 appear to be in a healthy condition. 

 My bees made the best record of any 

 in this locality the past season, as I 

 obtained over 85 pounds of surplus per 

 colony, spring count. 



